What does it mean when your washing machine smells? A smell-by-smell guide
Musty, eggy, sewer, fishy or burning? What each washing machine smell usually means, where to check first, and which guide fixes it.
You’ve probably already run the vinegar or a cleaner tablet, and the smell either held on or came back. A clean cycle reaches the drum; the smell often lives where it can’t, such as a front-loader’s rubber seal or the pocket behind its pump filter (the little hatch at the bottom), both of which hold water by design. That’s the design, not your housekeeping. If the smell went away after a clean and came back weeks later, that’s its own problem: why one big clean never stays clean. Otherwise, the kind of smell tells you where it lives: jump to the smell table.
Burning, gas or a strong rotten-egg smell? Stop first
- Smoke or flames, from the machine or the socket. Get out and call 999 (UK) or 911 (US).
- Burning rubber or hot plastic from the machine. Stop the cycle. Switch off at the wall and unplug, if the plug is safe to reach. Don’t run the washer on an extension lead or cord. Once it’s off and cool, look for a small item caught in the rubber seal or drum, then check the pump filter with a towel and a shallow tray underneath. If it smells again, book a service visit. On a new machine the smell can be normal for a while: Samsung says it should go after the first couple of cycles, and LG says it should stop after 10 to 20 full cycles.
- Hot, burning or fishy smell at the plug, the socket (outlet) or the machine’s back panel. Switch off at the wall only if it’s safe to, and stop using that socket. It may be the plug, the socket or the wiring, so call an electrician rather than investigating yourself.
- Gas, or an eggy smell that’s strong and spreading, or one that isn’t coming from the drum or drain. Don’t touch light switches or plugs, and don’t smoke or use a naked flame. A washer has no gas supply, so a gas smell points to a gas dryer, boiler, water heater or pipe nearby, and the odorant added to natural gas smells of rotten eggs.
- UK: open doors and windows, turn the gas off at the meter if you can, and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.
- US: if the smell is strong, get everyone out and call your gas utility’s emergency line or 911 from outside or a neighbour’s phone, as Connecticut’s utility regulator advises.
Find your smell
Find the row, check the spot in the third column, then follow the link.
| Smell | Usually means | Check first | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Musty, mould/mold, mildew or wet dog (front-loader) | Film growing where a clean cycle doesn’t reach | The rubber seal, the detergent drawer, the little hatch at the bottom | Still musty after cleaning? |
| Musty, mould/mold, mildew or wet dog (top-loader) | Waxy detergent and softener build-up | Softener dispenser, agitator, rim | Where a top-loader hides the gunk |
| Rotten eggs, sulphur or sewer | Machine or drain: the test tells you which | Drum or drain pipe? Strong and spreading, or from neither? Stop first | Machine or drain? |
| Stagnant water | Water left behind the little hatch at the bottom, or a machine that doesn’t drain fully | Front-loader: open the hatch and drain it; top-loader: most have no hatch | Front-loader: clean the drain filter; top-loader: the top-loader note |
| Fishy | Unclear; go by where it is | Drum, or plug and back panel? | Drum: front-loader or top-loader guide; plug or panel: Stop first |
| Sour or musty clean laundry, machine smells fine | The wash, not the machine: loads left wet, too much detergent, cold-only washes | Sniff the empty drum: smells fine? | Clothes smell musty after washing |
| Vinegar, right after a clean | The cleaner’s own smell, left behind | What you ran last | Vinegar vs bleach vs tablets |
| Burning rubber or hot plastic | A part overheating, or a new machine bedding in | Plug and back panel; is the machine new? | Stop first |
Fishy is the odd one out. None of the washer makers’ support pages checked for this guide lists it as its own smell, and sources disagree on whether hot wiring smells of fish: Bob Vila’s guide says it can, while a deputy fire chief quoted by WUPE, a Massachusetts radio station, said he’d never connected fishy smells with electrical fires. So go by where it’s strongest.
Doesn’t fit one row? Where and when
- Only at the standpipe or a sink plughole (drain), worst between washes: the water seal in the drain’s trap has probably dried out. Top up the trap.
- Only as it drains, with gurgling from the pipe or a nearby sink: the drain may not be getting enough air. Why it gurgles.
- Only after it has stood shut for a while: trapped damp. Does leaving the door open work?
Still not sure which it is?
On a front-loader, start with the twenty-minute machine checklist in why a washer smells musty even after cleaning. On a top-loader, start with where a top-loader hides the gunk. If the fix works at first and the smell comes back weeks later, read why one big clean never stays clean.